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Lisa Lim

“What are some words that come to mind?” was the question posed on April 8 by Merriam-Webster Dictionary to the Artemis II astronauts in space, in connection with their monumental experience of being farther from Earth than any human in history.
Space exploration has certainly offered humanity new perspectives on our existence, and, consequently, has inspired words and phrases to articulate these novel experiences, especially in ways we contemplate our planet.
The “overview effect” was coined by author Frank White in his 1987 book The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, describing the shift in awareness by astronauts seeing Earth from outer space.
The Artemis II mission – the first crewed mission of Nasa’s Artemis programme, a series of increasingly complex missions towards human exploration of the moon and future missions to Mars – was the one subject to such an experience last week.

As the astronauts flew over the Moon’s far side, a photo was taken showing a crescent-lit Earth dropping behind the cratered lunar surface, giving rise to the word “Earthset”.
This completes the lexical pairing with the other lunar phenomenon, “Earthrise” – the name coined in 1968 for the iconic image of Earth appearing to rise above the moon’s horizon, taken by an Apollo 8 crew member as the spacecraft rounded the dark side of the moon.
The notions of sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset comprise fundamental human experiences, and terms for the phenomena are found in all languages, with many of the names representing the apparent rising and falling of our solar system’s star and our planet’s only natural satellite in relation to Earth.
The use of the words “Earthrise” and “Earthset” is significant for reversing perspective in language, where our planet Earth appears to be “rising” and “setting”, as seen by an observer on or in orbit around another planet or the moon.

Another image of Earth, this time by the crew of Nasa’s Apollo 17 spacecraft in 1972 – the previous manned mission to the Moon – changed the way we conceived of our planet forever.
The Earth was captured as a whole sphere for the first time in history, photographed by a human using analogue film – an achievement of a pre-digital age. The image and Earth were dubbed “The Blue Marble”, our planet appearing, as it did, from a distance of 45,000km (28,000 miles), as a small and fragile glass marble, suspended in a vast dark universe.
This image and framing of Earth – in its entirety, no longer divided by borders and a grid of meridians and parallels in the language of cartography – moved us from our previously held view of the world as disconnected and fragmented, and became a symbol of harmony and unity.
Coincidentally and ironically, the part of the world captured in that photo spans the Mediterranean Sea to the polar Antarctic ice, including almost the entire coastline of Africa, Madagascar, most of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Peninsula. The Strait of Hormuz is visible at the globe’s upper curvature – the choke point of the current US-Israel war on Iran, which has put our world in dire straits.

One more image of significance was snapped in 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe. At a distance of over 6 billion kilometres, and caught in the centre of scattered light rays, Earth appears as a crescent only 0.12 pixels in size, a barely discernible muted point of light.
Named the “Pale Blue Dot”, the phrase was immortalised in planetary scientist and adviser to Nasa Carl Sagan’s 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Sagan reflected on how “our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light”.
The word that came to mind for Artemis II astronaut and engineer Christina Koch serves as an appropriate and instructive reminder for humanity: “humility”.


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From Earthrise to Earthset, missions like Artemis II are reshaping how we see Earth

Hong Kong’s daan tat, Singapore’s ice kachang: Asian foods make their way into global English

Amid new oil crisis, how the word ‘oil’ evolved from its food-based origins

Language Matters

Artemis II’s “Earthset” photo, as seen from the Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026. Photo: AFP

The Artemis II crew (from left) Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen during a video conference on April 8, 2026. Photo: Nasa via AP

The iconic “Earthrise” captured by the Apollo 8 crew on December 24, 1968. Photo: Nasa via AFP

On December 7, 1972, the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft snapped a photograph that forever changed the way people see Earth. “The Blue Marble”, as the picture is known, was the first image to show an entire face of the world in stunning true colour. Photo: Nasa via AFP

Egg tarts from the now closed Gold Garden Cafe in Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong. The Cantonese name for the tarts, daan tat, has entered the Oxford English Dictionary. Photo: Jelly Tse

A dai pai dong in Hong Kong. “Dai pai dong” was included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Lau Pa Sat, also known as Telok Ayer Market, is Singapore’s most iconic hawker centre. In 2020, Singapore’s hawker culture was inscribed onto Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Photo: Shutterstock

Ais kacang, aka ice kachang, in Penang, Malaysia. Photo: SCMP

Why Canadian university’s Cantonese language course is 85% Mandarin speakers

A Cantonese language course at the University of British Columbia that was originally geared towards heritage speakers is proving far more popular among Mandarin-speaking students. Photo: Getty Images

Raymond Pai is a lecturer and the director of the Cantonese programme at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Photo: Raymond Pai

Ella Dong is a mainland Chinese student at the University of British Columbia and one of the people in the Cantonese language programme. Photo: Ella Dong Xintong

Dr Zoe Lam began helping Pai teach Mandarin speakers in 2018. Photo: Zoe Lam Wai-man

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike at a port near Basra, Iraq, on March 11, 2026. We examine the history of the word “oil”, from its Mediterranean roots to its modern-day significance. Photo: AP

Until the beginning of the 14th century, the English word oil denoted “olive oil” exclusively. Photo: Shutterstock

An oil refinery at sunset in Fos-sur-Mer, France, on March 12, 2026. Photo: Reuters

The word “petroleum” entered English in the early 15th century. Photo: AP 

The enduring legacy of bamboo, a symbol of resilience, strength and adaptability in Asia

Bamboo poles are seen used in the construction of a pavilion in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong. Bamboo is used in everything from construction to food throughout Asia. Photo: Eugene Lee

Bamboo trees in China’s Anji county. Photo: Shutterstock

An opera performance is held in a temporary bamboo theatre for a festival in Hong Kong in 2025. Photo: Dickson Lee

Lifestyle

Space exploration inspires new words and phrases such as ‘Earthset’ and the ‘overview effect’, as well as images like ‘The Blue Marble’


Space exploration inspires new words and phrases such as ‘Earthset’ and the ‘overview effect’, as well as images like ‘The Blue Marble’.


National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

From Earthrise to Earthset, missions like Artemis II are reshaping how we see Earth

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Space exploration inspires new words and phrases such as ‘Earthset’ and the ‘overview effect’, as well as images like ‘The Blue Marble’

Space exploration inspires new words and phrases such as ‘Earthset’ and the ‘overview effect’, as well as images like ‘The Blue Marble’